One way most of us would like to work is to have others listen to our concerns, our requests, our requirements, and then take action to help us. One of the principles of DevOps is just this. We work together and optimize the entire system, increasing the flow of work, and not just trying to ensure our particular task or part is improved. I would hope that most of us would actually take time to listen, evaluate what we hear, and then move forward in a way that is a good decision for both parties. We certainly might debate about what action makes sense, but I would hope we could some to some consensus and decision.

Microsoft is listening and responding as well. They aren’t building SQL Server based on everything we file on Connect or complain about, but certainly they are listening to some of our concerns and requests. There is a good post that look sat some of the community driven enhancements, which are being included into SQL Server 2017. These are different customer and community requests that were given some attention and added to SQL Server 2017.

These don’t seem like big changes to me, but as I read through them, a few seem to go quite deep into the engine, and I’m sure there was quite a bit of testing to get these completed. You can test them in SQL Server 2017 today, helping to ensure they work correctly in the final product. Some of these will change the way you run backups or diagnose issues, perhaps even enough to consider an upgrade.

I especially like that performance of smaller databases is addressed with backup improvements. I would still guess that most of the SQL Server databases out there are smaller than 100GB, maybe substantially smaller, and while we may consolidate and change hardware, we need these systems to perform well. The large, 100TB database changes are nice, and I know some customers need these improvements, but most of us don’t. Even though the percentage of people with 1TB systems grows regularly, it’s still a minority, so kudos to Microsoft for doing some work here.

Not every highly rated Connect item is addressed. The string or binary data truncated message isn’t changed, and that’s been highly rated for years. However, the top JSON request made it into SQL Server 2016, and there are other items in the most voted on list that haven’t been addressed. I understand, though I don’t always like the way Microsoft looks at the product. I can relate their decisions to my own when building software, realizing that the customer doesn’t always have the best view of what makes sense for commercial viability. However, I’d also like to see the platform continue to evolve and make development and administration easier for all of us.

I’ll keep voting on, and creating Connect requests as I see a need, and I’d encourage you to do the same. Think about what you are really asking for and decide if it makes sense for large numbers of people, but continue to participate and let Microsoft know what changes are needed. Your voice can make a difference, so please use it in a constructive and positive way.